"...and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree..." Micah 4:3-4

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Just Some Updates

From time to time I make updates to the right hand side bar of this blog. One such category that I've never touched upon in any of these writings, is what I titled "Nuke Threat Awareness". At risk of coming across as just another paranoid Internet wacko I put it there with the accompanying links because of my concerns in regards to the dangerous world we are living in.

I came of age under the shadow of what they called M.A.D. or Mutual Assured Destruction. Back when I first learned that the United States and that old evil empire, the Soviet Union were in effect, holding each others populations hostage, to the ravages of all out nuclear annihilation, I concurred that yes indeed, it was truly MAD. I wondered what kind of insanity prevailed upon men to keep such a heinous public policy?

Another concern of mine, as I grew up in a city with a fully functioning nuclear reactor that we could see in all it's glory from the end of our driveway, was the potential of some crazy accident like Chernobyl or on a more minor level, like Three Mile Island happening. So from a young age I took it upon myself to study all I could about the workings of nuclear energy and it's potential hazards. One of the first things I ever learned regarding fallout was that with proper precautions it was entirely possible to survive and to go on and live a perfectly normal life. That is, if defensive measures were actually taken. It infuriated me that none of our leaders ever bothered to tell us of that fact. Most everyone I knew assumed that if there was ever a nuclear war or an accident at a power plant then we might as well resign ourselves to bend over and kiss our rear ends good bye. I mean that was always the attitude.

Secondly I learned that there was a good reason why we were all kept in the dark about the survivability of nuclear fallout. That was, if either the American government or the then U.S.S.R. ever told their populations about the precautionary steps they could take in the event of such a disaster then that would signal to the the other that they might be preparing for a nuclear first strike. I shuddered at the "MADness".

In time I grew up, got married and started a family. I suppose just one of the many motivating factors that was in the back of my mind of wanting to leave where I grew up and live in the country, was that I wanted to get my family away from such hazards of living by a nuclear power plant. Even if fear of an accident was unfounded I always assumed it would be a likely target in the event of a war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. From what I had learned, the further geographical distance between you and "ground zero" the higher chances of survivability and lessening the adverse effects from radiation poisoning.

But, then we witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Union. Almost instantly we heard people saying " we won" the "cold war is over" and that they could finally set the hands back, on the "doomsday clock". I for one never shared that kind of optimism, in fact I concluded that we had just taken a turn for the worse and our world became at that time, far more dangerous, far more complicated.

Looking back I can see my fears where rightly founded. Some say we now have a nuclear armed India and Pakistan as a direct result of the break up of the Soviet Union. And, at least in the days of the cold war America had a single nuclear armed adversary with which to negotiate. (With the exception of China) Then there were all the unemployed nuclear scientists and military personnel of the Soviet Union with nothing better to do than render their services to the highest bidder. Now we have no idea how many rogue nukes are floating around the world at this time. Just to name a few changes that would in effect make for a far more dangerous and complicated world. Things are not looking too bright for the young people of today. Recently I got an email from a fellow who reads this blog. He said, "My wife Carol and I find your site interesting and informative... very proactive, with just the right touch of shared 'what if' paranoia to keep us all on track." I got a kick out of the "what if paranoia" part but, it confirmed to me that I needed to at least give something of a disclaimer here about some of these things. Especially after I put the picture of an exploding nuke over there at the right. If people were wondering about me before, then they'd really think I was over the top with that. I guess another thing I should mention and it's really a big part of who I am, is the fact that all my life I've believed we are living in the Last Days. I hesitate even putting those words together, LAST and DAYS because the first time I ever did that I got a lesson in how the Internet works and got more feed back than I was comfortable with from some of those "internetwacko's" that I've been concerned that people might label me as. I make a big effort to try and be balanced in my world view and really consider all sides to a given topic. I do have some strong opinions but, I like to give the benefit of the doubt in most instances. Like the fact that I might not have all the facts at my disposal. Like I heard a preacher once say, "I think I'm right but, I could be wrong". So I try not to be too dogmatic. I know that alot of the Christian Agrarian bloggers out there don't share my take on the end times, but that's fine, we have plenty in common regardless. So I try to be respectful and not harp on it too much here. However, because of my world view I do watch current events like a hawk and that is reflected in what I talk about. But, no matter how bleak things seem to get I hold out that there is tremendous hope in the soon return of Jesus Christ. My belief is that after Jesus comes back, the earth will be restored to Garden of Eden type conditions and the prophecy I have at the top of this blog, up by the title, will come to pass. "...and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree..." Micah 4:3-4 There's actually quite a bit written in the bible of how people will live agricultural lifestyles and will live a life much closer to the land than the modernites of today are currently living. We look to all kinds of things in this life to give us hope. Lots and lots of folks see these presidential elections as kind of a last ditch chance for hope and "change". But, what kind of "change" are they talking about? Sadly, putting our trust in man is going to do nothing but dash our hope to pieces. We need to look a little higher than the presidency to find the change we all need.Until Next Time

I found your article very interesting & spot on. So many people today have such false hopes in the governments & other places. I agree that there are more countries with nukes, but how do we know that the Russian govt didn't hire those scientist people out. I think the USSR only broke up on paper, not in reality. Now I am starting to sound like one of those weirdos. Isn't it great that we serve a God in control, even in the midst of the madness? Thanks again for sharing.

April, Thanks for the comment. I agree completely that the U.S.S.R. broke up on paper, not in reality. Yes it is great that God is in control. These things must come to pass in order for prophecies to be fulfilled.